Better Than Never
by sbyamibakura
Summary: Peter/Isaac Post-S2. "...Things, bad things, are on the way. All of us are needed to stand together.


Better than Never

By: PhoenixJustice

Disclaimer: Heroes is owned by Tim Kring. I only own this story and make no profit from this.

Warning: T for kissies, slash, etc

Pairing: Peter/Isaac, mentions of Nathan/Peter, Mylar if you squint.

Setting: Post-S2

Summary: "...A war is brewing Peter, something that has been in the making for awhile. Adam Monroe was just a catalyst, a pawn being used, though he never realized it. Things, bad things, are on the way. All of us are needed to stand together."

Prompt: "late"

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It was very late in the night that he traveled to the one place in the world that held the most dangerous and powerful people. Some deemed to dangerous or unfit for the world, and some which were there of their own accord, or experimentation were held there. These things he knew quite well from picking up stray thoughts of those who worked in the Company.

Some tried hard to block their thoughts, but as strong as some were, he was getting stronger and there were not many barriers left which people could hold against him.

He was heading, flying, to Level 5. It was the one place which he thought might be able to help him with Nathan, bring back his brother and lover. His attempt to use his blood to resurrect his brother had failed utterly. Devestated, he was allowed by Matt to cut his arm open and test his blood out on him. If it failed, then his ability to heal would only be a personal one and not for others (though by all rights it should be for others as well). If it worked, then there was something very wrong going on.

Matt healed up perfectly.

That led him to where he was now, his feet landing smoothly onto the ground, staring at the large forbidding building in front of him. He walks forward quickly, opening the door and continuing inside. He walks past the receptionist who splutters and starts to get up to stop him. He stops her with a quick look, putting forward the thought into her head that she would leave him be and let him go on. Her eyes go blank for a moment as her brain is told what to do and she sits back down, leaving him thankful that he had also picked up on Matt's evolved power.

He had been led here, not just by the mere desire to see if he could find another person who could heal or something similar enough (What? Did he really expect Adam Monroe to just show up and decide to turn good and heal Nathan for him?), but also by a series of paintings that had been sent to his apartment.

The first had no return address, and was blank but for a shadowed figure on it, hand outstretched.

Not knowing what it was, where, or who it came from, it left him puzzled, but he couldn't throw it away, so it stayed in the house with him and Nathan, Nathan who was dead, but by some miracle of a chance, the blood Peter had given him was keeping his body intact and not rotting.

The next painting arrived exactly two days later.

This time it was blank, but for a sketched canvas on it.

He sat it next to the other one and looked at them both for a long time. They stirred remembered feelings and memories within him.

The next, and last, painting arrived two days after the second.

This time it had the shadowed figure, arm outstretched, and the canvas together. The canvas held kanji on it. He brought Hiro to his apartment and the time-traveler translated it for him; 'Come to Level 5, answers for your brother await.'

He gets out of his thoughts and looks up, noticing that he had arrived at the bottom floor and steps out of the elevator, not having paid attention to when he had even been in one, and blinks when he sees Mohinder stepping into a room down the hallway. What was the geneticist doing _here _of all places? Unless...he knew of Sylar being here...? But he couldn't allow himself the time to think about it, instead he continues forward, not knowing where he was going, but nonetheless was getting led by a feeling, a power, _something_.

He reaches a door away from the others and grabs onto the handle, rather surprised that it opens straight away and was not locked in any way. The room inside was rather dark and fairly large, much larger than the cells that he and Adam had been kept in. He walks further inside and starts to turn the corner of the tiny hallway which led deeper into the room, and...

"It's good to see you again, Peter."

...looks into the eyes of Isaac Mendez.

He was stunned. Isaac had been undoubtedly dead, had been killed by Sylar, had his brain disected by the killer so he could take his powers, but here he was, paintbrush in hand, arm outstretched towards his canvas...just like those paintings.

"You're late."

Peter blinks.

"W-what?" He stammered out. _Oh, great, _Peter thought. _I is smart, I use big word. _"But how can you be here? You were..."

"Dead. You can say it." Isaac said gently. He crosses his arms slightly, and turns towards Peter. A glance at the canvas showed a nearly finished work of Isaac standing exactly as he was, in this room, with Peter standing in front of him, surprise on his face. "But you're late. I told you in the painting to get here two days earlier."

Peter looks at him. "There couldn't have been anything like that, otherwise Hiro would have told m--" He stops, running a hand through his hair. Had Hiro told him everything that was on there? And if not...then why? Was Hiro aware of something he wasn't?

"How do I know you are Isaac?" He asked heatedly. "You, if you truly are Isaac, were killed by Sylar, your head sliced open, so you shouldn't be able to do--" He points at the painting. "This!" His head turns this way and that way, seeing now the paintings that littered the floor, that were stacked everywhere and anywhere they possibly could; the place was filled with them.

Isaac runs a paint stained hand through his hair in a similar gesture to Peter's. "I was. But I was brought back. By Adam Monroe." He elaborated, looking at Peter's shocked face. "My body was still weak after getting brought back and healed and then suddenly some Company people came barging in, we were in the loft, and I got teleported away before I could say or do anything." He smiles mirthlessly. "I was sent here and I've been painting ever since. Some of the paintings they take, but most of them I keep and I replicate the ones they take so I can always remember what I've Seen."

This was a lot to take in, but Peter believed him. Because of many things that had happened to him lately, he found it harder to trust than he once did, but...he trusted him. To be completely sure, he pokes through the man's mind and gasps at the sudden warmth that envelops him as he does so, unable to keep from shivering. He sees Isaac smiling at him.

"I'm more than what I once was Peter." Isaac said, mentally, not out loud. "I still have my ability to paint the future, though I'm not sure how I still do, unless whatever Adam did restored my ability? But I'm...more. My ability is evolving, though I'm not sure exactly what to, like how your friend Matt Parkman's ability evolved."

"Why did you...bring me here?" Peter gritted out. The warmth was spreading throughout his body, with him unable to stop it. It wasn't painful, far from, but it was filling his cock, making it stretch against his suddenly tight jeans.

Isaac walks forward and Peter watches him. With his white shirt with its sleeves rolled up to the elbow and faded jeans (barefoot and with only a slight beard no less), Isaac Mendez was a sight to behold and Peter felt amazed at the sudden realization, something which he never knew until now.

It was only when Isaac stood directly in front of Peter that he speaks.

"You wanted to save your brother. I wanted to tell you, no _show _you the person who is responsible for Nathan not being able to come back." He points to a painting set up on the ground next to the canvas. It was of his very own mother, Angela Petrelli, smiling (no _smirking_) with her hand on a shadowed figure's shoulder.

"It...can't be." He said, stunned.

"It is." Isaac said immediately. "I painted what I saw. She...used her ability and stopped yours from working on Nathan. A war is brewing Peter, something that has been in the making for awhile. Adam Monroe was just a catalyst, a pawn being used, though he never realized it. Things, bad things, are on the way. All of us are needed to stand together."

The warmth was now so intense that he moans from it. But it is suddenly gone and he gasps, letting out a few breaths. He looks up, into the face of the painter's and, with a moment's hesitation, leans forward and kisses him. He wasn't sure what was more surprising, the fact that he was kissing Isaac, or that the man kisses him back, hard, fiercely.

His hands move to cup the painter's face and he gets pushed back against the wall, their tongues vying for dominance and neither winning. A long moment passes before they both finally pull back to gasp for air. Isaac's eyes seemed to glow as they looked upon Peter. He shivers.

"I will go with you to meet with Adam and Hiro. Adam can heal your brother," Isaac said. "Angela can't block his powers; Adam's learned how to keep her out and I bet he can do the same for you and the others." His eyes soften as they look at Peter, seeming to see something in the empath's eyes. He pushes a lock of hair out of Peter's face. "I know she is your mother, but she is the leader of all that is about to come."

"You've seen it." Said Peter softly. It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

Peter nods, eyes closing for a brief moment before popping back open. He pulls Isaac forward and kisses him fiercely before moving back.

"I love my brother. I _love _him. And I would do anything for him. So I'm glad you're wanting to help me bring him back. But this...this is." He smiles slightly. "You are late too, you know? You made me wait for something like this all this time?"

He pulls Isaac forward again for another fierce kiss.

"But it's alright...better late than never, I suppose."

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A/N: I is done! :dances: Okay, what is the deal with me and writing different pairings than usual? Not that I'm complaining, mind you...

I hope everyone enjoyed this!

Let me know what you think!

--PhoenixJustice


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